Hashtags confused?

Those of us using social media know about hashtags, but are you all using them the right way? Here are some pointers!

When used in the right way, hashtags can increase the awareness of your posts beyond your own follower base, helping to generate more social shares and driving more traffic. But using them incorrectly can make your account look spammy and lower your online credibility.

What should the perfect hashtag contain?

Be memorable

Keep them memorable and short

Be unique

Capitalise the first letter of each word

Be relevant

Use them to take part in your industry or location Twitter Hours

How should we use them?

Twitter

Using 1-2 relevant hashtags per post can increase your engagement by 21%

But using more than 3 can actually decrease your engagement by 17%

Instagram

Use up to 11 different but relevant hashtags to make a real difference to your posts.

Facebook

Use 1-2 per post, ideally using one custom and one popular hashtag.

A few do’s

Research hashtags, many useful ones will already exist, why reinvent the wheel

Keep them consistent for your branding

Use online tools to find what is trending and jump on those

And few dont’s

Don’t use spaces of punctuation within hashtags

Don’t overuse

Don’t use @

Don’t spam feeds with your hashtags

#Dontmakethemtoolong

Don’t bother on LinkedIn, they have no value!

Hope this has given you a few more ideas for using Hashtags with your social media. Our next blog will share some more tools to help you get more out of your hashtags.

If you want to know more about getting the most out of your social media work for your business, please do get in touch with me Sue@catchdesigns.co.uk